Abstrakt
The poster introduced my research-in-progress, focused on the Czech reception of the novels and poetry by the Brontë sisters, and presented the methodology and results achieved so far. This dissertation research follows the widespread interest in local reception of English literature on the continent and studies the influence of social and historical context on the reception of literature in general.
It is also important in the frame of Czech literary studies, where reception history is not a very well-established field of research. The Brontë sisters have had a constant presence in the Czechoslovak cultural region since the first translation from the 1870s, but probably even earlier through German and French sources, with surprising numbers of translations, but also some adaptations, mainly for children and the theatre.
Their prominence emerges clearer in comparison with other British female writers, as for example Jane Austen's work was first translated into Czech almost 60 years after the first translation of Jane Eyre. The research opens questions of book adaptations for children, theatrical and TV adaptations, gender and social issues, as well as translation history and ideological appropriation.
For reasons of clarity, the poster focused specifically on the reception of Jane Eyre, as the most popular Brontë novel in the Czech lands.